Sanctuary amid housing crisis

Churches open parking lots to RV dwellers

Sanctuary amid housing crisis

Churches open parking lots to RV dwellers

Last year, Arnell Clark and his girlfriend, Mataele Robertson, moved their young family out of an East Palo Alto house because they could no longer afford the rent. The couple figured they’d get more room in a 34-foot recreational vehicle.

But the stigma hit hard. When they were renters, neighbors used to say hi. But in an RV on the street, “we’re invisible,” said 39-year-old Clark, a laid-off package handler. “It’s the unspoken that tells me how you feel.”

The solution: moving to a church parking lot. For months the couple have stationed their RV in the lots of local churches. They are currently on the East Palo Alto property of St. Samuel Church of God in Christ, an arrangement that Clark finds a blessing.

“St. Samuel is all about helping others,” Pastor Paul Bains said. “We believe in ... looking at the systemic issues that marginalize community and society, and if we can play a role in (addressing) that, that’s what we do.”

Arnell Clark plays with son Arnez Clark while girlfriend Mataele Robertson readies formula in their RV in East Palo Alto. (Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle | San Francisco Chronicle)

With no end in sight to soaring housing costs, several Bay Area faith organizations have become a sanctuary of sorts — not just channeling donations and distributing food, but also offering a safe place for people living in cars or RVs. The arrangement has sometimes grated on neighbors, but for pastors, it’s simply an extension of their mission to serve humanity.

“We know it’s just a Band-Aid,” said Brian Leong, a pastor at Lord’s Grace Christian Church in Mountain View, which is hoping to offer a handful of spots for people living in RVs. “We realize that sleeping in your car, whether it’s your lot or anywhere else, is not great. It’s not what anyone wants for themselves or their families.”

Pastors offering sleeping spots say there is still plenty of room for churchgoers to park. But not all neighbors are thrilled.

“I’m concerned about the traffic in that area as it is,” 58-year-old resident Patti Zierman told a Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council land-use meeting in April. She was referring to the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward’s efforts to obtain the council’s approval to bring six “tiny homes” to its parking lot.

The First Presbyterian initiative could affect 14 to 16 parking spaces on the church’s property that could be used by nearby Trader Joe’s shoppers. Zierman told city officials that she often shops at Trader Joe’s, and sometimes the parking can be so crowded that drivers circle around looking for spaces.

Arnell Clark fixes a light fixture in his RV in East Palo Alto. (Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle | San Francisco Chronicle)

Several Trader Joe’s shoppers interviewed in Castro Valley last week said they supported the church’s plan for tiny homes, even if it does take up parking spots.

Zierman said that while she doesn’t mind her tax dollars going toward homeless initiatives, she is concerned that it could be used to buy tiny homes for the lot in the church, which then, she fears, could be sold later at a profit. (The church hopes to get a government grant to pay for the homes, while putting the liability on its own insurance policy. A pastor said the church has no plans to sell the homes for profit.)

“That’s a little shady to me,” Zierman said. “I don’t know if I like that idea.”

It’s not just churches: Other nonprofits are also working to provide space for people living in cars or RVs. Bains, a pastor at St. Samuel in East Palo Alto, is working with the city to provide a public parking lot for people primarily living in RVs to use during certain hours starting in September. He said he’s seen too many residents ending up unable to pay rents that can double or triple if, for example, a landlord renovates their home. Some people living in their cars “have been forced out or priced out of their living conditions because of ... greed,” he said.

It is unclear how many churches across the Bay Area provide spots for people living in vehicles. But the escalating housing crisis has prompted at least several to act. Leong, of Lord’s Grace Christian in Mountain View, has helped found a program called Lots of Love that is offering eight parking spaces in two parking lots in Mountain View churches for people who live in cars. St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Mountain View will provide three parking spaces, and the program is working to line up spots elsewhere too, including at Leong’s church. Leong said successful applicants will need to check in with a case manager, and he hopes to get some of the RV dwellers into permanent housing. Some people living in RVs are seniors and people with jobs, Leong said.

At the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward in Castro Valley, up to eight parking spots are available to people living in cars from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Occupants have to pass the church’s vetting process, and RVs are not accommodated.

Music teacher Gregory Smith has been living in the lot for several weeks, hoping to save up enough money to move out of his Toyota Corolla. Smith, who is 5 feet 10, sleeps in the passenger seat of his car and sometimes spends the day at libraries researching music before his jobs in Pleasanton, Fremont and San Ramon.

Arnell Clark embraces son Arnez Clark, 1, while girlfriend Mataele Robertson gets the boy’s formula ready in their RV in East Palo Alto. They moved to an RV after their rent went up.

Arnell Clark embraces son Arnez Clark, 1, while girlfriend Mataele Robertson gets the boy’s formula ready in their RV in East Palo Alto. They moved to an RV after their rent went up.

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

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Arnell Clark embraces son Arnez Clark, 1, while girlfriend Mataele Robertson gets the boy’s formula ready in their RV in East Palo Alto. They moved to an RV after their rent went up.

Arnell Clark embraces son Arnez Clark, 1, while girlfriend Mataele Robertson gets the boy’s formula ready in their RV in East Palo Alto. They moved to an RV after their rent went up.

Smith moved here from Mississippi because of the job opportunities. He said he earns less than $25,000 a year, making it difficult to pay an apartment’s security deposit plus first month’s rent.

“It’s almost as if you can’t climb out of any situation because of that,” he said.

If authorities approve, First Presbyterian Church of Hayward could, in addition to allowing people to sleep in cars, place six tiny homes on its parking lot by year’s end. Medcalf estimates the cost of buying the 180-square-foot homes and installing plumbing and other infrastructure will be $200,000 — a cost he hopes the federal government, in a program run through the county, will bear.

The outpouring of help region-wide comes as a relief to people like Clark, who would like to return to more permanent housing. This month, he lost his $15-an-hour job with a shipping firm, and the family is struggling to pay the $600 vehicle registration fee for the RV, which would allow it to move the RV back onto public streets.

The couple live with their 1-year-old in the RV and have been at the St. Samuel lot for about a month, Clark said. Robertson’s two older children, ages 6 and 8, live with her parents.

Clark said he wants to stay in East Palo Alto for “sentimental reasons.” He remembers going to the levee with his brother growing up, and he takes the children there. He just wishes the place were more affordable.

“It’s very difficult to see your hometown as not your hometown,” he said.